The Carpinteria City Council on Monday threw its support behind mixed-status families, directing legal counsel to draft a letter opposing a proposed rule that could prevent them from accessing federal housing assistance.
Mixed-status families — those with some members who are in the United States legally and others who are not — are currently allowed to receive federal housing assistance.
The amount of subsidies mixed-status families receive decreases with each ineligible family member, city legal counsel Jena Shoaf Acos explained. However, a mixed-status family is currently allowed to live in one household and still receive public assistance.
Under a new rule proposed by President Donald Trump’s administration in February, if any member of a household cannot provide proof of eligibility and legal status, the entire household will be ineligible for federal housing assistance.
That could displace thousands of legal residents who live with undocumented family members, including children, The New York Times reported.
Within the roughly 1.2 million families who receive federal housing assistance are approximately 24,000 people who are undocumented or ineligible, according to Housing and Urban Development.
The proposed rule “would really significantly change these current practices,” Shoaf Acos said. “Those households would really be at risk of losing all funding.”
The council did not have the number of Carpinteria families who would be affected, but a statement from the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara said the change could cause hundreds of Santa Barbara County families to become homeless.
The Housing Authority has penned a similar letter against the proposed change.
“It’s such a burden on these people … ,” Carpinteria City Councilwoman Julia Mayer said. “It’s really shocking, and it’s not good.”
